On January 2026, NASA announced plans to develop a lunar reactor for deployment by the end of 2030, while Russia and China are targeting a joint reactor by 2036 for the China-led International Lunar Research Station. NASA’s proposed Lunar Reactor 1 is designed to produce 20 kilowatts and operate autonomously for five years; Russia’s Selena reactor is expected to produce 10 kilowatts and operate for approximately 10 years.[1][2] Both programmes are focused on the lunar south pole, where permanently shadowed craters contain water ice usable for drinking water, oxygen, and rocket fuel.[1][2]
For the Ark, nuclear surface power offers continuous electricity during lunar nights lasting more than two Earth weeks, enabling thermal control, communications, excavation, manufacturing, habitat systems, and redundant data preservation when solar generation is unavailable.[2][7] The principal risks are launch failure, radioactive dispersal, difficult lunar containment, weak gravity that could spread debris farther, and geopolitical control or exclusion zones around ice-rich terrain.[2][5]
The Ark team should track NASA Lunar Reactor 1, Russia’s Selena programme, the International Lunar Research Station, south-pole landing-site claims, reactor transport safeguards, and applicable international rules for nuclear facilities and exclusion zones. Engineering studies should treat 20 kilowatts as a useful pilot-scale benchmark, require geographically separated power sources, and design the archive around passive survival during reactor outage or contamination.[2][5][8]